Personal insolvency rate drops across Scotland

FEWER people are entering a statutory debt solution across all 32 local authorities in Scotland during 2015/16, new statistics have shown.

The report from Accountant in Bankruptcy found the overall rate of personal insolvencies, which include both bankruptcies and protected trust deeds, has decreased a quarter in the last financial year from 25.13 to 19 per 10,000 adults.

This decrease was driven by a 44% reduction in the rate of bankruptcies since the previous year with the amount of people being sequestrated dropping across the board in all 32 local authority regions of Scotland.

Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy Paul Wheelhouse said: “In the context of the continued challenging economic environment, it is really important we ensure that all those individuals who need them have access to fair debt relief and debt management processes.

“Building on our fundamental reforms to the bankruptcy system in Scotland in the last parliament, we will continue to work with businesses and charities to make the support we can offer to those in problem debt as relevant and helpful as it can be, whilst making sure that those individuals who can pay their debts, do so.”